316 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



Mr. Bonner. But her new owner, who has made a close 

 study of the farrier's art, saw at once that she did not 

 stand true on her feet. Accordingly, he altered the 

 position of her fore shoes, and the swelling forthwith 

 disappeared from her legs. Mr. Bonner had a similar 

 experience with the great Sunol. For a year after 

 his purchase of her she remained at Palo Alto, and a 

 few weeks before she made her fast record of 2.08 J 

 Mr. Bonner paid the mare a visit. At that time Snnol 

 was going slightly lame in one fore foot, when first 

 tuken out, from some unknown cause. Mr. Bonner 

 carefully examined the foot, and discovered that the 

 wall was a trifle higher on one side than on the other. 

 This was rectified, and the lameness disappeared. 

 Xow, if a horse can become lame at Palo Alto from 

 such a cause, and the cause remain undiscovered, how 

 numerous and mischievous must be the cases of bad 

 shoeing that occur where nothing more than ordinary 

 skill and experience in horseflesh obtain ! 



There are many horses that require the mind and 

 €ye of a thorough craftsman to shoe them properly ; 

 and when thus shod they never interfere or over- 

 reach; whereas, if wrongly shod, they can hardly 

 tike a sound step. When an incompetent smith has 

 to deal with such a horse, he commonly begins by 

 making a murderous attack on the hoof with his 

 knife, and then affixes to it a shoe of extraordinary 

 shape. A good workman, on the other hand, never 

 makes a shoe the shape of which differs from the 

 natural shape of a horse's foot. This, I think, may 

 be taken as an axiom, and it supplies a test capable 

 of wide application. The competent smith corrects 

 interfering or overreaching by contriving a new ad- 



